Drmm: The Latest Architecture and News

What does community architecture look like? Making It Happen tells the stories behind four very different examples of new or reimagined public areas. This immersive exhibition charts and celebrates the coming together of communities and architects to craft and create spaces that work for all.

In recent years many public buildings in Britain have faced an uncertain future as a result of budget cuts or the withdrawal of funding. In response, communities have come together to keep public buildings open and functioning, campaigning and fundraising in the face of closure or catastrophe. Making It Happen: New Community Architecture features four recent

The story of the Hastings Pier is an improbable one. Located in Hastings - a stone's throw away from the battlefield that defined English history - the pier was first opened to the promenading public in 1872. For decades the structure, an exuberant array of Victorian-era decoration, entertained seaside crowds but by the new millennium had fallen out of disrepair. In 2008 the pier was closed - a closure that became seemingly irreversible when, two years later, it burnt down.

"Hastings Pier is a masterpiece in regeneration and inspiration. The architects and local community have transformed a neglected wreck into a stunning, flexible new pier to delight and inspire visitors and local people alike," said RIBA President and Stirling Prize jury chair Ben Derbyshire.

Homerton College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, announced today the five firms shortlisted in the competition to design a emblematic £7 million ($8.5 million USD) centrepiece building to house a 300-person dining hall for the school. The finalists were selected from an original pool of 155 architects, from which 24 were selected for the longlist.

The competition, organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants, is a part of the College’s wider plan to improve and expand school facilities. Homerton boasts one of the largest student communities at Cambridge, and is one of a few of the University’s colleges capable of housing all undergraduate students in on-site facilities for all four years. To be located on an attractive wooded site, the commission has the potential to determine the character of the school for years to come.

Following their selection of 100 ideas to help solve London's housing crisis last month, New London Architecture (NLA) and the Mayor of London have narrowed down the entrants to ten winners which they believe offer exemplary models for the UK capital. The selected designs range from radical architectural solutions, such as Floating Homes and Baca Architects' proposal to create 7,500 new homes in a matter of mere months by floating small abodes in London's canals, to radical economic solutions such as David Kroll's recommendation to separate the value of properties from the value of the land they occupy.

In addition to being displayed alongside the 90 other proposals in an exhibition put on by NLA, these ten projects will be presented to the Greater London Authority to be assessed for their feasibility as real-world solutions to the crisis. Together, these ten designs provide insights into potential solutions - but also the many different causes - of London's housing crisis. Read on for images and descriptions of all ten designs.

London-based practice dRMM have submitted plans for a new Maggie's Centre in Oldham, a metropolitan area north east of Manchester. Maggie's, a UK charity famed for its cancer care centres, is also well known for commissioning world-renowned architects to design their spaces. This latest proposal will be sited within the grounds of the Royal Oldham Hospital, becoming the second centre of its kind in Greater Manchester following Foster + Partners' current project in central Manchester.

Terence Conran asked nine of his friends in the design world "What have you always wanted in your home, but have never been able to find?" The result is The Wish List, a set of ten projects dreamed up by big name designers such as Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Richard Rogers, but designed and crafted in collaboration with emerging designers.

Sponsored by the American Hardwood Export Council, the only restriction was that the product had to be made of wood, leading to designs ranging from Foster's modest geometric pencil sharpeners to Paul Smith's dream garden shed.

Inspired by the dolls’ house that Edwin Lutyens designed for The British Empire Exhibition in 1922, twenty British practices are each designing a contemporary dolls’ house in aid of the disabled childrens’ charity KIDS. Each version will sit on a 750mm square plinth to be auctioned at Bonham's on the 11th November and contains one feature which would make life easier for a disabled child. Among the participating practices is Zaha Hadid Architects and Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. FAT will also be working with Turner Prize recipient Grayson Perry CBE, and Studio Egret West with artist Andrew Logan.

Inspired by the dolls' house that Edwin Lutyens designed for The British Empire Exhibition in 1922, twenty British practices are each designing a contemporary dolls' house in aid of the disabled childrens' charity KIDS. Each version will sit on a 750mm square plinth to be exhibited during this year's London Design Festival (14th - 21st September, 2013) before being auctioned. Each design must contain "a unique feature to make life easier for a child who is disabled."